digital art

Adults can now enroll in Digital Photography classes at the Digital Arts Experience in Westchester and surrounding communities: Scarsdale, Valhalla, Rye, Larchmont, White Plains, Tarrytown and others. In our class, students learn the three core components of a DSLR camera that will have them taking incredible photos: aperture, ISO & shutter speed.

Our classes go over the information you need in a fun, stress-free setting and we don’t bog you down with jargon.

We’ve collected data from various sources to compile our own ‘Top 3 Hot STEM Careers’ list and how our programs in Westchester County, NY can give your child a head start.

The Digital Arts Experience of White Plains, NY strives to make STEM curriculum accessible to all youth in Westchester & Connecticut with cutting edge technology. The DAE provides a completely unique, personalized experience for every student who enrolls in our after-school, school break or summer programs. But first, here are a few quick facts about STEM Careers via The U.S. Department of Labor Blog:

The average wage for all STEM occupations is $85,570

7 out of the 10 largest STEM occupations are related to computers

There were over 8.3 million STEM jobs as of May 2014, representing about 6.2 percent of total U.S. employment

Several of the U.S. industries with the highest mean wages are STEM-related

Here’s our Top 3 List of STEM Careers to look out for:

1) Engineering

Entry Level Salary: $60,000+

Average Salary: $95,000+

Petroleum, Nuclear, Chemical, Electronics and Communications, Computer Science, Aerospace & Electrical and Material Science engineering are among the highest paying STEM careers for college graduates. Engineering by definition is the branch of science and technology concerned with the design, building, and use of engines, machines, and structures.

The goal of the class is to turn your digital CAD designs into physical objects. Using CAD software, students blueprint designs and must carefully and accurately measure to scale in order to produce a functional 3D model. This course explores the design and building aspect of engineering for creating physical structures.

This multidisciplinary program not only covers electrical engineering with an introduction to electronics, but also covers the computer programming language ‘Processing’. Students bridge digital and physical engineering by coding original video games and wiring their own controllers to be used in conjunction with the game. Finally, students tap into CAD design as well where they sketch out and design their own 3D cases for their controllers and 3D Print them.

2) Computer Programming

Entry Level Salary: $50,000+

Average Salary: $74,280+

A computer programmer is, in essence, a programmer, computer programmer, developer, dev, coder, or software engineer who writes computer software. At The Digital Arts Experience, we recognize the importance of learning a computer programming language at a young age. In this rapidly advancing technological world that we live in, having the ability to program a computer is going to be a basic essential literacy.

An intro course that is a great start for older students to begin programming using Java. Students will begin to look at Java programming and create their own games using the program, Greenfoot. These games can be either an original idea or a re-imagining of a classic. Components of Algebra, intergers, whole numbers and PEMDAS are applied.

Python is the perfect language to begin programming with actual code. It is written entirely in English and does not require abstract language or terminology, so it is easy to learn & understand. Students will start with writing simple programs and work towards programming text based games that will exercise their programming skills and develop fluency with Python. Math skills such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division as well as using whole numbers and negative exponents

Scratch is a tile-based visual platform that helps teach basic syntax and logic concepts that drive computer programming by users stacking command blocks together. It can be used to create virtually anything: from interactive stories and animations to video games. Students create their very own games, animations, cards and stories. Basic programming and math concepts such as event handlers, loops, conditions, operators and variables are taught.

An intro course designed to teach students the basics of iOS app development. Students in this course will learn both the basic language structure of Objective-C and the ins and outs of Apple’s free development tool Xcode, which is designed specifically to make programming iOS apps as simple as possible. By the end of the course, students will have completed several basic apps and will have the tools to continue designing apps in the future if they should desire.

3) Web Developer

Entry Level Salary: $51,000+

Average Salary: $66,000+

With a projected 20% increase over the next 10 years, web development jobs are quickly increasing by the thousands. From back end development to front facing web design, user experience, and more. Web Developer tasks include:

Web Development combines elements from both the creative and technical world. In this class, students will learn how to build a website from the ground up using HTML & CSS, and explore the design aspects of putting together a stunning and modern looking site. Students will complete the class with their very own, customized sites.

Javascript is the life-blood of Web Development. It’s how we bring life to ordinary websites by making them interactive and engaging. In this course, you will learn how to write Javascript code, manipulate web pages, and build complex web applications. Along the way, students will be introduced to jQuery, a powerful JS library, and build at least 2 working web applications. By the end of the course, students will have gained the skills necessary to create their own web applications, as well as, implement their own custom Javascript into existing projects.

These numbers are in no way meant to be absolute. They’ve been collected from various websites and outlets which have all been properly credited and this Top 3 list is simply conclusions we’ve made based on that data.

All in all, it is evident that STEM Education is becoming more and more integral towards the future of careers. With proper early education in these fields, kids will surely have a head start and an advantage among their peers.

The DAE is currently enrolling for Summer STEM Camp beginning July 5th and running all throughout the entire summer. Sign up for 1 or 2 weeks for a full or half day! Learn more at: http://www.thedae.com/summer-stem-camps.

We’ve got you covered! While other camps end before August does, The Digital Arts Experience’s computer and STEM summer camps in White Plains of Westchester County, NY, keep on going into the first week of September. Listen to President Rob Kissner talk about how you should end your kids’ summer.

With courses in 3D Printing, Animation, Graphic Design, and more STEM subjects to choose from, your child is sure to find a program that they are interested in! Allow your children to finish their summer at the most fun and educational summer camp in Westchester.

The Digital Arts Experience of White Plains, Westchester County will be hosting 4-week STEM related crash courses starting in June. With their Summer STEM Camps quickly approaching and many of their after school and Saturday courses coming to a close, providing 4-week programs are just enough to get a student’s feet wet and introduce them to a possible field they are interested in pursuing.

CRASH COURSES INCLUDE:

Intro to Computer Science using Python (Ages 9-12)

3D Printing with Minecraft (Ages 9-12)

Intro to Filmmaking (Ages 12 & up)

Digital Photography (Ages 12 & up)

Scratch Coding (Ages 9 -12)

Java Game Programming (Ages 12 & up)

WHY WE’RE DIFFERENT:

Small class sizes
Each student will work hands-on & receive the attention he or she needs from the instructor.

Focus on exposure
Our students will explore industry level techniques and projects.

Goal-oriented
The instructors facilitate setting and achieving goals.

Collaboration is #1
Our classes encourage social development in addition to technical skills.

Complete projects
Use for a portfolio, college application, resume and more!

Strictly Anti-Bully
Words hurt just as much as fists. We provide a safe and fun environment for our students and have a zero tolerance for bullying of any kind.

LEARN MORE:

To find out more about our 4-week crash courses, explore our website at www.TheDAE.com.

We, here at The Digital Arts Experience in White Plains, Westchester NY, are proud and excited to announce two NEW programming and web development courses for kids that we are currently adding, and a few extra courses coming this year!

Text-Adventures with Java:

We will be teaching an advanced Java Course that will build off of and develop the skills learned in our Java 101 Course. Students will spend time learning how developers in the real-world face complex problems. They will learn how to think ambiguously, write pseudocode, and develop algorithms to solve the problems they will encounter as they progress through the course. Furthermore, their Final Project will be in the form of a text-adventure, in which, the students will create their own story-line. Our objective is to teach the Java language in depth, while facilitating a fun, creative, engaging, and hands-on experience that encourages curiosity, teamwork, and critical thinking. This course will be a prerequisite to one of our future courses coming this year; Web Applications with Java: Hard-Coding a 2D game.

Programming 101 using Ruby:

This course is specifically designed to teach the core concepts of programming. We have designed the curriculum with the goal of teaching our students to think like a programmer. Students will learn to embrace abstract thought and practice common coding conventions. Being able to code with convention and conciseness in mind, is key to creating beautiful reusable code, that can be distributed worldwide. The Ruby programming language is currently sky-rocketing within the software industry, with employers seeking candidates whom are not only educated in the language, but are able to think pragmatically. This course assumes no prior programming experience, but is equally useful for those on an intermediate level.

COMING SOON:

Intro to JavaScript

Intro to jQuery

HTML5 Canvas: Game Development for The Web

Web Applications with Ruby on Rails

Android App Development with Android Studio

iOS App Development with Swift

Java Applets: 2D Game Creation

Why Take These Courses?

To put it simply…. because you should become digitally literate. Programming is, in essence, applied Math and Science. It teaches us to think smarter, faster, and more efficiently. It’s no secret that software and computers are changing our society. With so many of our industries relying on Software Programs to automate their daily tasks, it’s becoming more and more evident that we need to educate not only ourselves, but our youth. The tech industry is booming. Job growth is estimated to increase between 20% and 30% for Computer related fields by the year 2020. Employers are seeking computer literate individuals more than ever before. To add to that, in 2013, a study conducted by the Census Bureau found that 83.8% of households reported computer ownership, and 73.4% reported internet use. With STEM technology rapidly evolving and embedding itself in our daily lives, it is imperative that we learn how computers communicate, and what goes into creating, reading, and writing software programs. Below is a small list of a few jobs in the software industry and their respected average salaries: (Keep in mind the estimated 30% job growth in this industry)

To sum it up, we urge you to come learn with us. Tell your friends and family, and spread the word. The Digital Arts Experience of White Plains in Westchester is committed to empowering today’s youth, as well as, any adult whom wants to learn or sharpen their digital skills! Contact us via email, phone, or website. Thank you for reading!

We are now enrolling for our exciting Summer 2015 STEM Camps! Our summer programs start July 6th and run different programs all the way until the end of August. We have 5 different sessions:

Session 1 will run for 2-weeks from July 6th – July 17th.
Session 2 will run for 2-weeks from July 20th – July 31st
Session 3 will run for 2-weeks from August 3rd – August 14th
Session 4 will run for 2-weeks from August 17th – August 28th
Session 5 will run for 1-week at the end of the summer from August 31st to September 4th
Morning session from 9:30AM – 12:00PM.
Afternoon runs from 1:00PM – 3:30PM.

Students can attend for the full day where they choose a morning activity and a separate afternoon activity, or just come in for a half day!

Written by Cristina Calabrese, Director of Operations & Founding member of The Digital Arts Experience

When The Digital Arts Experience (The DAE) of White Plains opened its doors in July 2012, our main purpose was to provide After School & Summer Tech Camps to kids and teens throughout Westchester County.

As The DAE began to expand upon the courses taught inside our facility, so did the demand for us to bring our programs offsite as well. With this came the idea for our Mobile Classroom, The DAExpress (The Digital Arts Express).

The DAExpress was created to provide the most cutting edge technology in a state of the art learning environment available to the Westchester community.

Inside The Digital Arts Express, or The DAExpress.

Able to accommodate up to 10 students at once, The DAExpress is designed to act as one of our classrooms on wheels. With this mobile computer lab, we can offer nearly every single class that we teach in our White Plains facility, anywhere in Westchester, Southern Connecticut and Rockland.

The DAExpress is equipped with 10 brand new Mac Book Pros, a Makerbot Replicator 2 3D printer, and the best digital teaching tools. We bring The DAE to you!

Since its inception in September, we’ve run classes and programs with nearly 15+ unique local schools and organizations, including:

Children’s Village of Dobbs Ferry

Don Bosco Community Center

Greenville School

Greenwich Academy

Greenwich Country Day School

Heathcote Elementary

JCC on the Hudson

Rye Arts Center

SAR Academy

Seeley Place

Solomon Schechter School of Westchester: Upper & Lower School

Westchester Hebrew High School

Westchester Library System

Westfield Day School

White Plains YMCA

White Plains Youth Bureau

…and more! We also run private, custom classes that we bring right to your door.

Students at Solomon Schechter show off their final projects in Scratch coding!

In addition to that, we don’t always use our Mobile Classroom when we travel to schools. Often times we will drive over and use the school’s computer room or media lab and provide classes out of there. In many cases, schools and organizations do not have the necessary equipment to provide such classes on their own. That is one of the reasons that The DAExpress came about.

The DAExpress allows us to bring everything: instructor, class content, and equipment. And the best part is – we come to you! Topics that we teach include:

We can also provide Professional Development to school staff. In short, there is a lot we could do with our Mobile Classroom. As time goes by, we discover new and unique uses for it. We are excited to keep it “rolling” and see where the future takes us!

Do you know of a school or local organization in need of After School STEM related programming? Contact us at info@TheDAE.com or feel free to visit our website www.TheDAE.com to learn more.

Stop Motion Animation using LEGO at Heathcote Elementary School.

The DAExpress Mobile STEM Lab: Rob & Emily get ready to depart for a class!

The Mobile Classroom accommodates up to 10 students plus an instructor. It’s BlueTEC emission system system will produce zero odor.